Breath of the forest
by Lumpy toe
Summary: Percy Jackson was betrayed by those he thought he could trust. Accused of treachery and wrongful murder he is sent to Tartarus where he is brutally tortured. How does Tartarus change Percy? When he is chosen by Chaos to inherit his domain and also become the guardian of the hunt, what will happen in the next chapter of Percy's life? First fic. please no flames. T for gore.
1. Prologue

AN: Hey so this is my first fic, please review, constructive criticism is always helpful, please no flames. Takes place post second gigantomachy. Now on to the story! :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any other characters from Rick Riordan's novels.

Prologue

**Percy's pov.**

There I was, in the throne room of the Olympians, chained on my knees during my _trial _if you could really call it that. Truthfully I have no idea what I'm even accused of, I asked but all I got as a response was a slap from my _oh so beautiful girlfriend, _note the sarcasm.

Most of the campers and all of the Olympian gods were present. I was contemplating every possible reason why I should be here when suddenly I heard Zeus' booming voice call out. " Perseus Jackson, you are accused of treachery and wrongful murder, what say you in your defense!" "I'm not guilty, but it doesn't matter does it? You already don't like me and Athena absolutely hates me and you hang off of every word she says, so there really isn't a need for this _trial_ if you will."

"You insolent idiot!" Athena exclaimed "My father listens to my counsel because, in case you haven't realized, I'm the goddess of _wisdom_." Several nods were seen as many campers and Olympians drank in her words.

I then looked pleadingly at my father and he spoke up "I don't believe you're actually trying him for this! He has saved all of us twice, if that does not prove his loyalty I don't know what will!"

I then heard a feminine voice behind me say "Father, I. Must agree with my uncle, I do not believe Perseus would commit such crimes, lest we forget that his fatal flaw is loyalty"

A round of muttering was started upon hearing the new argument in my defense. I turned around to see who had spoken out for me and my heart nearly stopped from surprise when I saw lady Artemis on her feet in front of her throne. My surprise was short lived when I was snapped back to reality by Athena's voice " I will admit that Perseus is an amazing actor to fool us all into believing that his flaw was loyalty but I firmly postulate that it was a ruse, a ruse designed to get into our good graces so that he could pick off campers straight from under our noses." I then replied "what would be my motive be to commit to something so horrible"? Athena then gave me a hard glare wich I met with my own. After a little starring contest she spoke up " The insane often do not have a motive accept for their desire of pain and death".

Her words left me shocked, 'did she just call me crazy'? I thought to myself silently.

I was disrupted from my thoughts when Zeus' voice boomed out " It shall be put to a vote! All in favor of Perseus Jackson's banishment raise your hand!"

Most of the campers present (including Annabeth) raised their hand, the ones who didn't were Clarisse, the Stolls, Katie and Piper ( Nico, Jason and Thalia weren't invited to the trial). From the gods everyone raised their hand except for Poseidon, surprisingly Artemis, Apollo and Hermes ( Percy had bonded with Apollo and Hermes after the 2nd gigantomachy and Hestia wasn't invited ).

"It is decided"! Zeus boomed " Perseus Jackson I hereby banish you to eternal damnation in Tartarus"!

Zeus stomped his foot on the ground opening up a large crack that seemed to suck in all the light and Annabeth walked up to me "Bye seaweed brain". Was all I heard before _**she **_pushed me into the the crevasse that led straight to tartarus._**  
**_

An: so this is the prologue please review telling me what you thought of it and if I should continue. If I do continue, the following chapters will be longer.

- Lumpy toe


	2. Hell

An: hey thanks for the reviews, hopefully this chaper's grammar will be better, will have more 'action' and hopefully be longer

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any other characters from Rick Riordan's novels.

**Percy's pov.**

As I descend into the complete and utter darkness of Tartarus the first thing that came to mind was ' Tartarus huh, not exactly my idea of a perfect vacation'.

Now, the thing about having ADHD and making the _very long _fall from Olympus to Tartarus is you get _extremely_ impatient waiting to finally get to the bottom and hopefully (if you're not smashed into a pancake on impact) do something._  
_

I angled my head downward to become more aerodynamic and pick up some speed. After gods know how long, I finally saw a small red light from deeper in the pit. The light rapidly increased until the hole I was falling down opened up and I was free falling through a horrifying land scape of toxic gasses that made me cough, disgusting transparent bubbles filled with monsters that looked eerily like pimples waiting to pop. I could go on describing Tartarus but you really don't want to envision the whole thing.

I looked around to see if there was a river I could land in like last time, but either fortunately or unfortunately, I was heading straight for a lake into which the five rivers flowed.

Head still angled down, hands put together into a point in front, I assumed a perfect diving formation. Just because I was going to literally dive headfirst into possibly the worst experience of my life, didn't mean I had to belly flop.

The lake was rushing towards me at blinding speeds. Just before I crashed into the lake I closed my eyes, took a breath and braced myself for what was to come. And let me tell you, nothing and I repeat _ nothing _could've prepared me for this. As I hit the water I felt the effects of all five rivers at once.

The Styx: Being the river of hatred, made me despise what everyone had done to me, they made me a pawn, someone to do the dirty work and when they were done they threw me out like yesterday's trash.

The Acheron: As it was the river of pain, I was immediately in all encompassing agony, it was worse than swimming in the Styx and holding the sky put together, worse than having my heart ripped out and shattered into millions of tiny shards by my ex-girlfriend's betrayal.

The Lethe: What the river of oblivion did was equally horrible. Instead of removing all of my memory's like I hoped it would, it only removed the ones in which there was any happiness. Only leaving behind memory's of sadness, despair, hate, rage and hopelessness.

The Phlegethon: The river of fire was burning me alive, I felt as if I was being stabbed all over my body with a knife made of molten lead. One would think that at it would at least be keeping me alive and that I would be thankful for it keeping my miserable existence going, but for me it was all the more agonizing, I just wanted to fade out of existence, memory and time, I wanted to die.

And finally the Cocytus: The river of despair caused me to think that my whole life, my entire being was a lost cause, that I should just curl up and succumb to the punishment that it made me think I deserved. It's freezing water chilled me to the bones yet did nothing to nullify the burning effects of the Phlegethon.

I was tempted to just stay in the lake. At least that way the pain would keep my mind off my memory's ( of which only bad ones remained).

But I resisted the temptation, I did_ not _come all this way just to die a broken man at the bottom of a lake, no I would fight back. So, harnessing all my energy that had not been sapped by this dreadful lake. I used the water around me to propel me towards the shore.

Seeing as the lake was immense, by the time I lay down on jagged rocks of the beach I was exhausted both physically and mentally. Shakily, I stood up and stumbled away from that horrible lake.

After gods now how long, I arrived at the mouth of a cave, I looked around and saw no better place to camp out. So I stumbled in and scooted closer the the wall for hopefully some extra camouflage. I then closed my eyes and drifted into the realm of Morpheus.

* * *

I drifted awake to the sounds of people talking, their tone of voice was full malice and bloodlust. I instinctively reached for riptide in my pocket and felt the familiar form of a pen. 'Stupid Olympians' I thought silently before peeking outside of the cave and saw four telekhines sitting around a fire. Retracting into the cave so that only my right eye was visible I listened in on their conversation, telekhine one, who seemed to be the leader said "We can't stay here long. We still have to continue our search for _Jackson"._ He said Jackson as if it was the most disgusting thing in existence. "Kronos said that he's down in this hell-hole and if we don't find him I shudder to the what Kronos'll to us".

Deciding I had learned enough, I silently uncapped _anaklusmos _and watched it turn into a three foot long celestial bronze sword.

With a war cry I charged at telekhine 4 who's back was to me and sliced his head clean from his shoulders. Telekhines One, Two and Three reacted with surprising speed. They all leapt up as if they where expecting me. Two and Three charged while One stayed back and looked for a break in my defense. Two took a wild right hook aimed for my face which I sidestepped and brought down riptide on his elbow effectively severing it from his body. Next I slashed at Three and cut a deep gash on his chest, usually three would have disintegrated but being in Tartarus made them harder to kill. Then I heard a bellow of rage behind me and saw number two charge back into the fight. Two threw a left cross under which I ducked and stabbed upward through his jaw into his brain. Two disintegrated into golden dust while I spun around and stabbed three through the heart and watched him disintegrate. But in my fight with telekhines Two and Three I completely forgot about One. So when I turned around I was caught in the face by a powerful uppercut causing me to fall onto my back.

The last thing I heard before I lost my grasp on consciousness was telekhine One saying "Master will be very pleased".

An: hey, so I know the fight scene was pretty bad but it's my first fic so give me a chance. And thanks for the reviews they were awesome. This chapter is longer than the first but not as long as I hoped. I'll try to update soon.

- Lumpy toe


	3. Pain

An: First off merry Christmas. Secondly it's been a few weeks since I updated, I'm not sure if a few weeks is long in update time but if it is I'm sorry. Also there is gonna be a torture scene which is most definitely have some gore. And Percy did not get the curse of Achilles or any other curse form the lake.

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any other characters from Rick Riordan's novels. Nor do I own lord of the rings or skyrim.

* * *

**Artemis' pov. **

I stood wide-eyed as Perseus fell into the hole that led straight to Tartarus. For some unknown reason, the sight him falling into that horrible, godforsaken place made me... sad, yes that's it, it made feel sad, why though? He's just a ma- boy, a worthless pig.

Then my mind drifted to other matters. Damn, how am I going to tell Thalia that Percy, who she considers a brother, is sentenced to eternity in Tartarus. Should I be blunt or sugar coat it. No Thalia is always straight to the point, yeah it's probably better if I just say it outright. I sighed, did my best to steel my nerves and flashed back to my hunters camp in Yellowstone.

Upon my arrival, Thalia immediately ran up to me and asked if anything important happened. I took a deep breath and said "Yes, but I think it would be best if we discussed this in my tent". Thalia raised an eyebrow but acquiesced never the less. I strode past her towards my tent causing her to jogg in order to catch up with my swift pace.

Once were both seated inside my tent, I opened my mouth, crossed my fingers hoping that she wouldn't destroy the entire camp and said incredibly quickly: "AnnabethbetrayedPerseusandnowhe'sinTartarus"! Thalia then said "Sorry milady but could you please say that again"? I inhaled deeply, averted my gaze and agonizingly slowly said "Annabeth betrayed Perseus and now he's in Tartarus.

When I was done I chanced a glance at Thalia and saw her dead-serious expression "Lady Artemis if this is a joke then it is definitely _not_ funny". I closed my eyes and braced for my half-sister's rage, "I'm not joking".

Suddenly a huge electricity surge nocked me out of my chair. My eyes snapped open and what I saw was, I'll admit it, pretty scary. Thalia's electric blue eyes were flashing violently, her hair was spiked up even more than usual and you could hear the crackling of static electricity.

**"WHAT"!**

* * *

**Percy's pov.**

I woke up in a dark room that smelled strongly of mold and other things. I could hear water dripping slowly close by yet out of sight. I tried to get up from my spread eagle position on the hard, cold stone surface of the floor but in vain when I felt heavy celestial bronze chains restricting any movement. I struggled a little bit but only succeeded in making my wrists and ankles raw from the friction. I lay still and took deep breaths ''stay calm, stay calm, stay calm'' I thought to myself. If there was anything _**she** (AN:** she **_is Annabeth) told you it's that when you're in a seemingly impossible situation the most important thing is to stay calm.

After a moment of deep breathing I heard the aforementioned water dripping somewhere just out of sight. I smirked, 'Is it just me or are immortals really stupid'? I concentrated on the water and felt the familiar tug in my gut. I could sense the water getting closer and closer, then, right at the entrance of my cell it dropped as if there was a force-field or something like that cutting off my powers.

Before I could get back to my panicking however, I heard heavy footsteps approaching. I instantly stopped moving and held my breath hoping they would walk right past. No such luck. A small and shaky voice emanated from outside my cell, "This is his cell my lord." then I heard a voice that sent shivers down my spine, a voice cold and metallic like knives being sharpened, "Very well, you are relieved". It was a voice that could only belong to one person: _Kronos._

Aw man it just had to be Kronos didn't it. Now, I try to be an optimistic, easy going guy but right now I was starting to think that Murphy's law was spot on._ (AN: If you don't know what Murphy's law is i'll right in the AN at the bottom.) _

I then heard the clicking noise of something getting unlocked and the grinding noise of a rusty metal door swinging open on old hinges.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't _Perseus Jackson _the almighty savior of Olympus" Kronos said, sarcasm clearly evident. "Its been a while since we've last met. But I think I'll enjoy having you in my clutches".

"Yes, I think some punishment is in order". "Gwemil"! He shouted and some twisted, gray, hunched figure with pointy ears came hobbling in, so I could only assume Gwemil was the creature's name.

"Torture this whelp here, I don't care how you do it just make it hurt". "Of course my lord" Gwemil replied with a devious smirk plastered on his hideous face. "My pleasure".

Kronos then stepped out of my prison cell, locked the door and strode off to who knows where.

Gwemil looked me up and down before licking his lips. Meanwhile I was freaking out. This creature, whatever it was, was really creeping me out. He looked like a cross between a tall gollum and a falmer from Skyrim. Yes I played skyrim, the Hephaestus campers made me play to show all the different "awesome" armor sets, and the Hermes campers showed me the Lord of the rings trilogy. Why? Ask them because I have no clue. Anyway back to reality.

Gwemil licked his lips and slowly inched forward. Then, when he was about a foot away, he jumped forward, plunged his clawed right hand into my abdomen, ripped out one of my ribs and plunged the rib into my solar plexus.

The pain was unbearable. A cry of utter woe was torn from my lips as he dragged my rib downwards towards, well, my rib cage. How was I not dead? Once again, I have absolutely no clue.

Once he had made a nice gash in my torso, he left the rib in my chest, got up and left. After a little while of extreme pain, he came back with a small bucket with a red light comeing from within.

Gwemil stepped over to me and placed the bucket on the floor. I tried to see what was inside but due to my restraints I couldn't lift my head high enough to see.

Gwemil slowly put on some gloves and reached into the bucket. What he pulled out _really_ made my eyes widen. In his hand was a ball of lead the had been left in a fire for so long that it glowed red. My only thought was 'This is _not_ going to be fun'.

He crept the last few inches towards me, red hot ball of lead in hand and pushed the sphere into my navel.

You know what I said a few minutes ago about the rib cutting thing hurting unbearably, well, this hurt a_ lot_ more.

He repeated this until there where three balls of hot lead in my abdomen. The pain was absolutely horrible. And due to the agony I passed out... again.

* * *

**Artemis' pov.**

I walked through camp looking for anymore rubble from Thalia's rage induced destroying spree.

I saw what remained of a tent and snapped my fingers. The tent promptly disappeared and a new one shimmered into existence.

"Sigh" after I told Thalia that Perseus was sent to Tartarus she got very, _very _mad. First It started to rain, then it turned into a full fledged thunderstorm with lightning completely obliterating everywhere it struck, which just so happened to be our camp.

Sometimes it surprises me how much power that girl has. However unlike a very certain 'king of the gods' I didn't get scared of that power and throw that someone into a pit.

While I was thinking that, I had subconcsiously I entered my tent, changed into my night attire and got into bed.

It was only then that it dawned on me that Perseus was sentenced to eternal punishment. For some reason it made me really sad. It was all so confusing. And as I closed my eyes to sleep, a few tears slid out from between my eyelids.

* * *

AN: Murphy's law is an epigram that says "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

So once again merry Christmas, or if you don't celebrate Christmas than good day to you.

P.S. Have some cookies (pretend they're blue) (::) (::) (::) (::)

-Lumpy toe


	4. Broken

AN: Hey! Its me, and I bear good tidings of a new chapter! Sorry for the long wait but I've been busy with some other stuff. Any way, on to the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson or any other characters from Rick Riordan's novels.

* * *

**Percy's pov.**

I woke up on the hard stone floor of my prison cell. Everything was the way I remembered it, hot, bad smelling and after a while that constantly dripping water was really starting to annoy me. The only thing that was different was, one: I wasn't all chained up, and two: there was a really ugly scar on my stomach from my first (and definitely not the last) torture session.

Seeing as I wasn't chained up, I decided to explore my (very small) cell. The room was always too hot to be comfortable, it smelled like mildew, sweat and blood, made completely of stone with celestial bronze bars for the door and very rusty celestial bronze chains hung from the wall.

* * *

**Time skip 1 year**

It had been a few hours since the last time Gwemil came and gave me a visit. My body was now riddled with scars from _many _torture sessions. Gwemil seemed to have taken upon himself the task of torturing me, insulting me and really just morally degrading me in every way possible. Everyday he would come and dump lake water (_A.N. : the lake from chap 2.) _on me. I was absolutely miserable. The only semi bitter-sweet thing was that they had me using a forge which greatly improved my smithing skills and they had me play as a gladiator in an arena, forcing me to kill people in hideous ways. (ripping out the spine through my opponents back for example) In the arena I was often unarmed. Only very rarely did they let me use a sword. This kept my muscles in peak condition. As for riptide, well, my old weapon had been chucked into the lake, and no matter how big a connection I had to that pen, I was _not_ diving back in.

Despite my "big muscles" everything down in this abyss seemed designed to break me. And to be honest, it was working. Every second, of every day. I felt my courage, hope and compassion leaving me, turning me into a heartless being, hardly worthy of being called human. But I knew that the torture would only be worse if i gave in. So I fought against the despair and hopelessness, but seemingly in vain because I had nothing to live for, nothing to remember except sadness, but most of all: I had nothing to hold on to.

And it was that final thought, that broke me.

* * *

**Gwemil's pov.**

I chuckled lightly to myself. I had just received the most marvelous news: attempt 5018 subject 32 had finally broken, we had finally succeeded. Master Kronos was going to be most pleased.

I hobbled up to my lord's door and knocked. After a few seconds the door opened to reveal the noble face of my liege. "What is the meaning of this disturbance Gwemil. I told you not to bother me." he barked. "My lord, captive 32 has broken". My master grinned at the news. "Excellent, meet me outside subject 32's cell at 6 o'clock tomorrow to commence the procedure

As I walked away, I had a wicked smile on face as I thought to myself: 'This will be fun'.

* * *

**The following morning.**

**Percy's pov.**

I woke up to the sound of approaching footsteps. There were two sets, one was light and irregular which I knew belonged to Gwemil. And the other set was heavier, and more even. The second set I assumed was Kronos' because of the heavy footsteps made a 'clunk' every second on the dot, never missing a beat.

I was curious as to why Kronos would be coming, he made it clear that he only came for significant occasions. Such as my birthday for instance, where I received _'the most amazing'_ gift of a particularly cruel and painful torture session. After which I was told to the my captors for the _'wonderful' _gift.

Usually I would greet my torturers with a nice insult, but not this time, there wasn't any fight left in me. I just dangled there in my spread eagle position chained to the wall as they approached. There was a short pause as they observed me before a strong hand roughly grabbed my face forcing me to look up. All was silent as Kronos stared me down. "Yeah he's broken" Konos said to which Gwemil replied with an evil, high-pitched laugh. "Stop laughing and reinforce the chains you SOB!" "Of course master" Gwemil scurried over with a glass of liquid in his hands and poured the mixture on my chains. The liquid soon solidified adding a shiny silver coating to my chains. Gwemil then pulled out a syringe filled with a wine red... something, I don't really know what was in it. "What's the syringe for?" "T- to inject i- into the s- subject my lord." Kronos strode across the room and snatched the syringe from Gwemil. "This is how its done". Kronos then took out a sword and shattered the syringe spilling the contents on to the wicked sharp blade. He then picked up the sword and shoved it diagonally upward through my left hip and out through my right armpit. I cried out in pain as the sword skewered me. I could feel the poison coursing through my blood stream. And then I felt myself transform.

* * *

**3rd person pov.**

Kronos, after watching the effects of the elixir, spoke to Gwemil. "Ready the forces. Tomorrow, we march!"

* * *

AN: I'm sorry this chapter is so short. I promise the next one will be longer. And the "attempts" mentioned in the chapter are how many torture sessions Percy's had.

Once again I'm really sorry, tell if there are any grammar mistakes (I'm sure there are). R&R.

Lumpy toe


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